A streetside glimpse of India from Bangalore - no paid news, no lobbying, no plants, no stringing along - just pure viewpoints. My own political education. Satire Alert (At times)!
Because, nothing is permanent, only interim!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The internet has democratized publicity. Anybody with a keyboard can now go public with the news. No more editors with tinted glasses who try to put shade tint into news you get. But obviously, this has increased the "noise" in the system - there is so much noise in the system that it is difficult to figure out which is the signal and which is noise. At the same time, there are many outposts on the web which are just old media in new clothing - with the same type and level of spin that you would see in the media.

The counter argument to this is that, even in a regular newspaper, there is as much of a ratio to signal and noise - if not more. So, if you stick to credible commentators on the web, you will be better informed about the news that the newspapers put a spin on. Many a time local commentators give a better account of the news than the media. So, if your choose your sources correctly, you can get the right news, sans the spin.

And some exposes too. In India the exposes aren't very many, but in the US many sites have successfully called the spoof of many spin doctored events. Hopefully, they will in India too...